Financial aid for private school (SSS forms by NAIS)
I'm working on the financial aid application for kindergarten and I have three questions.
1. I'm currently pregnant (due March 2017). Is the only place to address the costs associated with another child in the supplemental section at the end? Do I need to do all the associated calculations, for example, estimating the yearly cost and then adding that total to costs for my other children, and listing the total spent on tuition / daycare?
2. How much detail do I have to go into about the instability of our income? For example, I'll be on unpaid maternity leave from April-June and then I don't get paid in the summer from my base salary (I'm in eduction). But, last summer I worked two jobs during summer to try and cover some of this. I won't be working those jobs this summer. My husband is a graduate student and is graduating in December. He doesn't have a job lined up yet. He could end up doing something low paying, like substitute teaching, or if he got a job at a tech firm could end up making a lot of money (say over 100K). But, we likely will have no idea where we stand in that regard when the application is due.
3. When estimating how much we can afford to pay towards tuition I assume they take into account that in addition to tuition there are expenses for before school and after school care. Since those are rarely subsidized, that would mean we would be able to afford less of the actual tuition. Is this a valid assumption? Do I need to be explicit about this in the application?
Thanks for any help!
Parent Replies
Hi, I'm also in your same boat of applying for financial aid for the first time. I'm not an expert but I have a couple friends with older children who have done this before and they were able to help me out. For your first question, when you fill out your expected costs for 2017 you will have to estimate the costs for the new baby. There's a comment section at the end where you can explain that you're pregnant etc. The same goes for the 2nd question. Estimate to the best of your ability but be sure to add in the comment section that your income in unstable and give reasons why (maternity leave, husband just graduating with no job etc). For your 3rd question, I'm not sure but I think it's true based on what my friends have told me. I would still add in the comment section that there are additional unknown costs (before/after school care, school breaks, extra fees the school charges for field trips etc). But from what I've been told the point of SSS is to make sure you can cover as much as possible without feeling uncomfortable or living on ramen noodles.
I have filled out that SSS form every year for the last decade. It is pretty limited in terms of being able to explain things, although I do believe you can input expenses related to other children so you should make sure those numbers get in there. There is an additional comments section at the end but I don't know how much, if at all, they consider that. My understanding is that SSS is just providing a service for the schools, that you pay for, so that the schools themselves do not have to pour over every applicant's finances. SSS gives the school some raw numbers that the schools use for their information and as a guideline. Ultimately it is up to the school how much they give you and that will depend on a lot of factors such as how much money they have to give, giving priority to existing families and how much has already been committed to them, the number of people applying for aid etc... I would suggest writing a detailed letter to the admissions director explaining all of your issues and being honest about how much you can really afford. This is what I did every year and I felt like for the most part they gave me what I was asking for. After school care is always going to be extra so figure that in as a childcare expense on the SSS form. Also, keep in mind that private school tuition increases about 3% EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Over time that adds up, my child's tuition has increased about $1,000 every year so that I now pay about $10,000 more a year than when we started. Good luck!
Ah, the SSS form. I don't have an answer about your first question, but there is a section at the end where you can write in detail more about your financial circumstances, and I would provide all the detail you have here. The more the better, IMO. If your husband does get a well-paying job later, you can inform the school so they can adjust the aid package and provide that support to another family in need. Besides not feeling guilty, you'd also gain their appreciation for your honesty and transparency!
For aftercare, there's a section in the Monthly Income and Expense section (if your school requires that part) called Monthly Tuition/Childcare Expenses, and you would list before/after care expenses under Childcare (even for a kinder).
Otherwise, reach out to your school financial aid office unless they explicitly say not to. I found the schools that we were applying to to be very helpful and willing, if busy at this time of year. The SSS form is not perfect, and they know that.
Good luck!
I can't say for sure what they do and don't look at, but we have received generous financial aid that I am pretty sure has to be taking into account my own chronic health issues and work instability. (I actually included loss of income due to time I couldn't work, which is something they prompt, I believe.)
I would urge you to go in-depth and provide all of that information in the final section. (Though I agree with another commenter that extended care costs should be something that can be included in the main Expenses section).